It's time to gather the statistics to compare January 2008 to January 2009.  Unfortunately there's no sugar coating the stats this time - our market took a punch.  Below you'll see where our strength and weaknesses are in the Triangle (Wake County).    

Notice what happened to new construction.  It tanked 55%!  No wonder the builders have backed off new construction around here.  But in comparison take a look at the average price of a resale home - it's up 3%.  Our average sale price for the entire area did drop by  2 ½ %.

So just which subdivision's did the best during the month of January 2009?  Some of these are our favorites too...

Graphic statistics courtesy of Stacey Anfindson - T.A.R.R  Report

I also wanted to check on how the showings compared for the two months as well.  As you'll see they were way down too - over 12%.  There were 14,504 total listings in January 2009 and 12,688 in January 2008...

So where have all the buyers gone?  My gut tells me they are waiting to see what the market will do next.  Except of course 1^st time home buyers.  We're seeing more of them with the $8,000 tax credit on the table until later this year.

I'll be anxious to get my hands on the stats for February.  But for now with mortgage money available and very good, things will start to unclog around here.  This weekend FHA loans are around 5% and with  a 3 ½ % down payment requirement. 

There's also USDA loans available  (Read Eleanor Thorne's info) and a lot of the area in Wake county surprisingly qualifies.  Then top it all of with Conventional 30 year fixed rates at an all time low hovering around 4.62% and inventory flush it is a great time to buy that dream home!

In the meantime should you have any questions about buying or selling a home in the Raleigh Area call us - we're your connection to Raleigh Real Estate!